Paramus ex-cop loses battle over retaining wall

PARAMUS — A seven-year battle between a retired police officer and the borough over whether he improperly built a stone wall outside his home has come to a seeming conclusion with a judge ruling that the wall must come down.

Former police Sgt. John Ward said he's still in shock that Superior Court Judge Lisa Perez Friscia recently decided that the wall surrounding his property at the corner of Midland and Hickory avenues must be dismantled because it encroaches on the public right of way.

"I told my attorney I can't go on with this even though there are grounds for appeal," Ward said. "I don't have the money."

He's considering two options: moving the wall, which would prove costly at about $10,000; or asking the borough engineer for permission to dismantle the wall and regrade the slope to its original look.

Ward erected the wall more than 25 years ago to replace railroad ties that periodically had to be removed because of rot, he said. He said he wasn't aware he ever needed a permit to install the wall, which he considered decorative. He also never had to seek a permit when replacing the railroad ties, he said.

But in 2007, the same year after he filed a suit alleging political cronyism in the police department, the town zoning officer at the time, Lisa Meserole, acting on an anonymous tip, told him he would have to seek zoning board approval before he could continue building a deck in his side yard, he said.

The board then investigated Ward's history of improvements to his property and said he needed permits for a range of improvements he had undertaken including a fence, a pergola and the retaining walls.

Zoning members heard Ward's application and denied the variances. He sued the borough and zoning officials to force acceptance of the structures, claiming the town had sought the violations in retribution for his whistle-blower lawsuit, which was settled in 2010.

A Superior Court judge ordered Ward to resubmit his proposal and seek approvals for the work. He did so and most of the improvements were approved.

However, it was determined that the zoning board did not have the authority to grant Ward permission to keep the wall when it encroached on the public right of way. The judge then ordered the improvements that did not receive variances to be disassembled within a year.

In 2010, a Bergen County Municipal Court judge fined Ward $50 but did not force him to remove the wall.

With the option to seek a hardship hearing on the variance denial before the mayor and council, Ward met with Borough Administrator Joseph D'Arco. D'Arco then filed a report with the mayor and council, which denied Ward permission to leave the wall as is.

Late last year, he received a letter from the borough, which has hired Suarez as special labor counsel, seeking enforcement of the judge's order that the wall be dismantled because no variance was ever issued for it.

Ward has repeatedly argued he is entitled to a hearing before the mayor and council, not the borough administrator.

He also said he tried to argue those same points before Friscia on Feb. 28 but she only addressed the previous judge's order, giving Ward until June 1 to dismantle the wall.

The renewed efforts by the borough are not only politically motivated but considered selective enforcement, Ward claims.

"This is how people in power get even with you," Ward said. "They have unlimited resources to sink you."

Borough officials, however, have said they were enforcing a court order that required Ward to remove the wall.

"We now have a second court opinion consistent with the original and it really shouldn't make a difference who's in control," said Mayor Richard LaBarbiera. "At the end of the day, it's an enforcement issue."

Ward also wanted to argue selective enforcement because he said he has found 100 other examples in town of residential walls that were constructed within the 10-foot right of way. He provided addresses and photographs to the building department.